Thursday, November 14, 2013

With the launch of Playstation 4 (November 15th) and Xbox One (November 22nd) comes the inevitable question for gamers: Will the console be hard to find at launch?

If you think it will be easy to find at launch, you can save yourself the pain of waiting in line in the middle the night for the midnight launch. But if you are wrong, you might need to pay a hefty premium if you want to buy the console any time soon.

Factors to Consider with PS4 and Xbox One

Production
One of the biggest factors determining a console's price after launch is the production of the console and how many will be available.

With the Xbox 360, production was very limited. Resale prices were sky high for the first several months.

Demand
When the Wii launched in November 2006 there were millions of units available, but it became the must have gift of the year. It was hard to find and prices shot to $500+ from an MSRP of $299. Even in year 2 (2007), Wii console prices were above $500 by the end of November. High demand, not low production kept resale prices above retail prices.

On the opposite end, Playstation 3 sold poorly after launch due to the $599 MSRP. The PS3 was hard to find on launch day, but resale prices on eBay quickly dropped below as $599 as demand dried up.

Prices Before Launch
A good people's expectations about prices after launch are the prices before launch.

This isn't a perfect indicator though. Playstation 3 consoles were selling for as much as $1,000 prior to launch. Soon afterwards prices plummeted to $600, the launch price for the PS3.

Below are the Xbox 360 and PS4 Console Prices Prior as of November 13th 2013.

Console

MSRP

Resale Price

Premium

Xbox One

$499

$670

34%

Playstation 3

$399

$600

50%

Right now the PS4 is selling at a 50% premium to the MSRP so people expect it to be harder to find than the Xbox One.

What do you think? Will PS4 console prices increase or decrease from now? How about Xbox One console prices?

You can check our PS4 Console and Xbox One Console pages to see the latest prices and monitor how they are doing.

I'm starting to wish that I bought a few 'day one delivery' through Amazon consoles. You could make an easy $100+ per console without doing anything. I'm right now watching Xbox One's close for around $700 on eBay.